


Hard at Work

by VioletTeaTime



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Cisco Ramon-centric, Deaf Hartley Rathaway, Disability, M/M, Racism, STAR Labs, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25437889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletTeaTime/pseuds/VioletTeaTime
Summary: It's not until he's getting the tour of Star Labs that Cisco considers he's just about the only person of colour in the building. Doctor Wells seems intent on introducing him to every other scientist on staff, some of the most well known minds in Central City, and every single one of them is white. It's exhausting.-the challenges cisco faces as a latino scientist
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Comments: 13
Kudos: 77





	Hard at Work

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i am not a person of colour, but i feel as though there are very few fics that talk about cisco's expirence as a latino scientist. please inform me if anything is out of order and ill be sure to fix it!  
> hartley is written as deaf, as he was in the comics. im still pissed the show gave a canonically deaf character superhearing.

It's not until he's getting the tour of Star Labs that Cisco considers he's just about the only person of colour in the building. Doctor Wells seems intent on introducing him to every other scientist on staff, some of the most well known minds in Central City, and every single one of them is white. It's exhausting. He's following a few feet behind Wells, fiddling with his blazer as they walk into the cortex. 

The room is huge, buzzing with white coats and engineers alike. It appears to be the communal workspace, Cisco can see people huddling around what appears to be a car battery hooked up to a motor the size of his fist right next to a trio working with petri dishes of moving substances. That's gotta be an OSHA violation. 

"Doctor Snow! I'd like you to meet Cisco Ramon, our newest mechanical engineer." Doctor Wells says, clapping Cisco's shoulder. Wells says those words with such excitement that it sends waves of excitement throughout Cisco's whole body, making his toes feel like they're tingling. The woman hovering over the petri dishes looks up and smiles at him, warm brown eyes meeting his. 

"Welcome to Star Labs! I'm Caitlin. I'd come over to shake your hand but..." She holds her hands out in front of her, and her gloves are coated in a slimy substance. Cisco feels his eyebrows crease. 

"What is that?" He asks, straying from Wells' side to get closer to the group. One of the men beside her, a brute with a tablet, looks up at Caitlin with a soft look. 

"We're experimenting with microalgae as a form of oxygen production. Of course, most of our oxygen already comes from it, but in many countries, it's being destroyed faster than it can be produced by waves or boats. This is essentially a form of seaweed that regresses into a slime-like state when it is exposed to massive vibrations, like hurricanes or any boat with a motor." Caitlin answers smoothly, and Cisco watches as the substance in the petri dishes begins to change states into a more solid form. The man with the tablet is quick to mark down the reaction. 

Cisco nods, impressed. He has no idea how they have created it, but has no doubt it's just one of many great projects this group has done. Cisco's eyes flit to the third man, who hasn't looked up from his tablet at all, which seems to be connected to a modified pressure plate under the petri dishes. He mutters something quietly to the taller man beside him, who pokes at his tablet some more. Finally, he looks over at Cisco.

"Hey, man! I'm Ronnie. I'm usually a structural engineer, but Cait and Hart got me hooked on this project." He gives a wave and a soft smile. He gently bumps his elbow into the shorter man, and he finally looks up, sharp blue eyes finding Cisco quickly.

"You're new." He says it like it's a bad thing. Cisco nods.

"Yeah. Mech engineering." 

"Hm. Maybe you should have dressed like it," his voice is monotone as he speaks, "-instead of dressing like a child." 

" _Hartley_." Comes Wells' disapproving voice, and Cisco turns around to face him. He has a look on his face as though he had expected such a reaction. The shorter man switches languages, addressing Wells in a way that seems as pretentious as he looks. The dude is wearing a tie and a sweater vest. At a lab. Wells seems to quip back, and Cisco meets eyes with Ronnie, who shrugs.

"They're just like this, dude. You get used to it." He says, and Caitlin nods.

"You never quite get used to Hartley, though." She supplies, and the short man, Hartley, he supposes, glares in her direction. 

"I heard that." He spits.

"That's the only thing you've heard today, man. Turn up." Ronnie gestures to his ears, and Hartley sighs.

"You exhaust me." He places his tablet on the table, fixing Cisco with a look. "Welcome to Star Labs. You'll last a week." 

Cisco watches as he walks away.

-

Cisco is in fifth grade when he wins his first science fair. He came close the year before, the first year he qualified for it, but came up just short to a sixth grader. He stands proudly beside his experiment, a study on gasses and flight, when one of the older kids comes up to him. Cisco is used to being short, but the boy towers over him, thin lips pulled into a tight sneer. 

"You know you only won because it looks good for the school."

"What does that mean?" Cisco asks.

"It looks better to have a smart Mexican kid than a smart white kid." The kid grunts, and Cisco's eyebrow twitches.

"I'm not Mexican."

"Whatever you are, then. My project was better, but they don't wanna give it to me."

Cisco knows it's a lie. He knows his project is better than the other kid's experiment on fruit density and gravity, because the kid basically just dropped some oranges off of his roof and called it a day. But as he's at home that night, sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework, he thinks about it. And he almost believes it.

-

Doctor Morgan is pushing them together. Cisco can't explain why, but every time he has a question for Tess or Harrison, he's told to go find Hartley in his lab. Of course, he never does, not wanting to deal with the prick and running off to Ronnie instead. Tess says it's because they're so opposite that she thinks they should work together, but Cisco doesn't want to deal with any of that, so he stays far away from sound or vibration related work. 

Their labs are right next door to each other. All of the mechanical engineers have share a lab with another scientist, Cisco's lab mate being a guy a few years his senior named Liam. He's not in the lab a lot, and stays quiet when he is. Cisco has caught him staring at him a few times, but doesn't know what to make of that. 

At ten-seventeen, just as Cisco is ever so carefully fusing two copper rods, a piercing noise screams in through the vents of the lab, and Cisco drops his tools, covering his ears as they clatter to the floor. He whips around to find the source, and quickly makes his way into the hallway, following the sound. The door to Hartley's lab is open, and Cisco walks in to find Hartley working on a small device, seemingly unaware of the piercing sound. He looks up as Cisco pounds into the room, eyebrows drawn close as he takes in the other's appearance. Realization dawns on his face, and he presses a button on the device, the sound beginning to fade away quickly.

Cisco's ears ring and his head feels like it's stuffed with cotton as the sound fades. Hartley has the audacity to not even look apologetic, instead reaching around to the sides of his head. 

"What the hell, dude?" Cisco demands, rubbing his temples. "Aw, man, I'm gonna have to sleep that one off."

"It's a device I'm developing as a panic alarm. I didn't know it went off, I turned my aids off in case it did." Hartley says nonchalantly. 

"Well, it did!"

"It works. That's what matters. If I caused you some brief pain, my _deepest, sincerest_ apologies." The bastard's voice is dripping with sarcasm. Cisco rubs the space behind his ears. 

"How didn't you notice that?"

"I'm deaf, Ramon. I can't hear most high frequencies. For my sake, I wish I couldn't hear low frequencies either, just to rid myself of your voice." He looks away. Cisco knows that the guy is egging him on to bicker, but he's willing to take the bait.

"Please, this voice is the best part of your day."

"Ah, yes, because what would Star Labs be without your incessant jabbering and chewing of those damned Red Vines?" Hartley asks, his lips turning up. He seems pleased that Cisco didn't ask about his disability. Cisco is glad to oblige that, even if Hartley is unbearable. 

"Months behind on Project Hookshot, I'd guess." Just for the hell of it, Cisco pulls a lollipop out of his pocket, watching as Hartley rolls his eyes.

"Your insistence of giving serious projects nicknames is something I'll never understand."

"Your insistence of speaking like a pretentious dickbag is something I'll never understand." Cisco parrots, and Hartley gives a soft chuckle. 

-

His middle school academic decathlon is the first time that Cisco really understands that going into academics as a Latino is something that will be difficult. He's the youngest one on his team by two years, having skipped sixth grade and headed into seventh easily, the rest of the members being eighth grade students. His team is made up of four of them, a pretty Korean girl named Kim, a black boy named Kent, and a white guy named Quinn. 

They make it to state pretty easily, all things considered. Each of them are smart in their own ways, and often their knowledge intercepts enough that at least one of them knows the answer. The competition is tough for the final rounds, but Cisco can feel excitement bubbling in his chest as their team answers correctly time and time again, polite claps from the audience turning into cheers as they progress through the challenges.

They end up with a silver trophy to bring back to their school, and it's just about the best Cisco has felt in his whole life. He's beaming as they hand him a little medal to take home too, running over to talk with Kim.

"I'm sorry! I should have known where Harare is! I was supposed to be the geography one!" She's just about wailing, hiding her medal in her pocket.

"Hey, hey, no. You did so well! Kim, this was all just for fun!" He says, nudging her gently. She's too pretty to cry like this, especially when she just used her big brain for the last couple days straight. 

"You're not mad?" She asks, through sniffles and red eyes. 

"No! This was still really fun, right? And there's always high school!" Cisco answers, shuffling over on the bench as Quinn walks over. 

"Well. This sucks." He says, frustration evident in his voice.

"Yeah." Cisco admits.

"Kim, I though Asians were supposed to be smart." Quinn says, voice flat. Kim raises her head, and Cisco butts in.

"Hey! You can't say things like that."

"Hey, at least you're going against the grain, being all smart."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Heat rises under Cisco's collar.

"I mean that your people aren't exactly known for being hard workers."

Cisco doesn't even have an answer for that. He just locks eyes with Kent, who is as quiet as ever. 

-

Cisco decides he doesn't like his lab partner when he finds out that Liam voted for Trump. The guy always seemed a little strange to him, but after overhearing Liam loudly talking about his views on 'illegal aliens' and the border wall in the break room, Cisco wants to get the hell away from him. He asks Tess to reassign him a new lab if possible, and by the beginning of the next week, he's sharing with Hartley. 

He has to lug all of his work next door, as the lab Hartley works in is the only one that's really accessible for him. There's a fire alarm with a large light on both walls, as well as a light board on the wall of his side. Under it shows when he's getting a call, being asked to come to the cortex, or other more mundane tasks. Cisco finds that Hartley prefers to keep his aids down low, and does his best not to ask about it. 

"It's unfortunate you had to move labs just to get away from Liam. I was rather enjoying having the whole lab to myself." Hartley quips, helping Cisco back a large cart of prototypes into the room. 

"I mean, they can't fire him for his political views, so I'm glad they did anything." Ever since the Liam incident, Cisco has been picking up on more. A white coat reminding him to look professional to a work dinner, one of the other engineers asking him where he came from, if he was an immigrant, a visitor to the lab congratulating Harrison for diversity, like having one visible minority is a big deal.

Cisco doesn't say anything about it. He tries to make himself believe that the biologist just wanted to make sure he didn't wear a tee shirt, or that the engineer was just curious. 

"If it was up to them he'd be gone by now. Harrison made him go through sensitivity training when he was as dick to me." Hartley pulls a box of spare parts off the bottom of the cart and places it on Cisco's desk.

"It's hard for me to imagine anyone being a dick to you. I thought you were the biggest douchebag here."

"I try." Comes the dry answer, but when Cisco looks at him, Hartley is grinning. He does that more often than Cisco would expect. 

They get used to working together, much to Tess' delight. Hartley finishes his emergency device and sends it off to be patented, and then immediately moves on to a device that's meant to reduce chronic pain by sending direct vibrations to the spot.

"For someone that says he doesn't like people, you make a lot of things that help them." Cisco notes, sitting on his desk as he watches Hartley work. They're planning this out together, Hartley working with the biochem scientists on finding out what vibrations and sonic would help certain ailments and places, and Cisco finding out a compact way to administer them. Cisco pokes his fork into his Tupperware, slowly eating his lunch. Hartley turns to him.

"I care for people, but I don't. I'm complicated like that." He jokes easily.

"Or you're just a dick trying to make money."

"The world may never know." Hartley chuckles, turning to him. "What are you eating?" Cisco looks down at his dish.

"My mom sent me home with leftovers because I can't cook. It's just some mofongo." He tilts the container, and Hartley takes a curious peek. 

"You seem like someone who can't cook." 

"And you can?" Cisco holds out the container, and Hartley gingerly takes it from him. "Try some."

"It's an important skill to have." He says, before taking a small forkful of the dish and bringing to his mouth. All of Hartley's motions, near constantly, are smooth and elegant. He makes eating look like a show. 

"You better like my mama's cooking." Cisco warns, and Hartley nods, handing the Tupperware back.

"Oh, that's good." Cisco is almost taken aback by the compliment. It's nice to share a space with Hartley.

-

Cisco has only failed one test in his life. Eleventh grade physics, which he took in his freshman year. He had fallen sick, and taken one random Tuesday off of school to recover. The next day, when he was coherent enough to go back to school, his teacher told him about it.

Mrs. Gonzales was always a hard ass with everyone, but something about Cisco made her focus on him. It might have been that he liked eleven, or couldn't sit still in class, or his bright tee shirts. Anyway. She asks him to stay after his class, into lunch, and he agrees, expecting to have to do extra work. He didn't expect her to show him his mark, sitting almost eleven percent under where it had been previously.

"I wanted to check in with you, let you know how you were doing." She says flatly, and his chest feels like its seizing up, seeing the big eighty-four on screen.

"I don't... I was at a ninety-five! You told me that!" 

"You were at a ninety-five on Monday. It is no longer Monday." She lets him lean over to stare at the grade listing.

"Why are all these zeroes here?" He touches his finger to the screen, and she sighs.

"You missed a test. Your mark went down." Mrs. Gonzales answers, and Cisco shoots up.

"I'll take the test! I'll do it right now!" He pulls a pencil out of his pocket, and she holds her hand out, stilling him.

"Francisco, no. I'm sorry. People like us don't get a second chance at things like this."

He never missed a day of school again.

-

Cisco is picking up on sign. Or, rather, he's watching YouTube videos on how to sign and doing it in the mirror, and only really learning the obscenities from Hartley. Whatever. It feels like having an in to the other scientist, who had warmed up even more now that Cisco was in the same room as him. Probably because Cisco always has snacks, and Hartley constantly forgets to eat. 

Cisco hands him the small device, wires and pads draping down off of it. Hartley takes it gladly, a satisfied smile on his face. 

"We finished this much faster than I assumed. Good work, Ramon." Hartley praises, gently wrapping the wires around his fingers as he packages the item in a small box. "I'll give it to Tess tomorrow and have her start working on a patent. Francisco Ramon's first creation, out into the world." 

"Actually, my first creation out into the world is the Dairy Queen Oreo Cheesequake Blizzard." Cisco quips, and Hartley lets out a low whine.

"For the last time, you didn't invent the Oreo Cheesequake. Anyone with poor taste says they invented it." Hartley says, and hands Cisco one of his loose tools from Hartley's table.

"So, uh. I was actually thinking about the patent..." Cisco trails off, and Hartley raises his eyebrows expectantly.

"I sure hope you were."

"No, no, I mean... I think I wanna like... come up with another name. For me, I mean." Cisco mutters, busying his hands, feeling Hartley's eyes on him. It takes Hartley a moment to respond. Cisco is unsure if he heard him, but doesn't want to admit it again.

"Why would you want to do that?" He asks gently.

"You do it, too." Cisco defends, and the other man scoffs.

"I don't use my legal last name to separate my work from the work of my homophobic, ablest parents."

"And maybe I want to separate my work from my name!" Cisco shoots. Hartley gives him a blank look, one of his signature stares that Cisco had become accustomed to.

"Why?" He asks, and Cisco scrubs at his face.

"I want my work to be taken seriously, Hartley. And as shitty as it is, my name might be a barrier to that." When Hartley doesn't answer, Cisco goes on. "I don't want to erase my culture. I'm proud that I'm Puerto Rican, but too many scientists have had their work turned away for having an ethnic name."

"Then you have to prove them wrong. Yes, you are horribly unprofessional and a mess and a complete idiot with no regard for any safety precautions in the lab, but you have one of the greatest scientific minds I've ever known." Hartley says, his small hand finding its home on Cisco's arm. "Why do you think I study vibrations? Sonic? Sound? To prove to those motherfuckers out there that I can."

"It's not that easy." Cisco shakes his head.

"It might not be easy. I'll be with you every step of the way. If you want me to." 

-

Cisco hates when Hartley is right, although Hartley is right about a lot of things. Hartley is right about how Cisco likes tea better than coffee, though he never knew it. He's right when he tells Cisco to rest or sleep or _take a break before I make you_. And today, he is right about the suit. Cisco is looking in the stupid full length mirror, admiring the maroon fabric when he notices Hartley hovering in the door frame.

He's taken to not wearing his glasses, and Cisco wants to laugh, because it's almost like in those shitty old movies, when a character would put on glasses to show that time has passed. His hair is scruffy, and he has a genuine calm look on his face. Cisco is in love with him. 

"Do I know you, or do I know you?" Hartley drawls when he realizes he's been caught, entering the room. He's in a crisp black suit with a satin emerald shirt on under the jacket, and he should look absolutely ridiculous in it. He doesn't. He's wearing the hearing aids they finished working on the week before, shiny green metal catching the light as Cisco takes in Hartley's appearance.

"I hate to say it, but you know me." Cisco says as Hartley takes a step into his space.

"You don't hate to say it at all." The bastard is right.

"No, I don't." Their lips meet for a moment, a gentle kiss that serves as a promise of more. Hartley slides an arm around Cisco's waist. 

"Alright, Francisco Ramon, are you ready for this shitty ass party?" Hartley asks, like this isn't their anniversary party.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Hartley Ramon." Cisco leans into him.

-

It's not easy. It's never been easy. But with a voice, a fight, and people by your side, it gets easier. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! this style was a little more expiremental for me,,, writing a scene then a flash back for most of it!  
> comments are a writer's best friend!  
> @violetteatime on tumblr  
> 


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